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Published: 10 March 2018 10 March 2018

[Editor's Note: This is part three and the final report on a meeting of the New Mexico Central Arizona Project Entity held March 5, 2018. It was the first of seven meetings this author attended this week.]

NM CAP Executive Director Anthony Gutierrez asked, at the regular monthly meeting of the New Mexico Central Arizona Project Entity, for approval of a letter to the Bureau of Reclamation Phoenix Office and the Department of the Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke with some questions from the entity.

Chairwoman Darr Shannon, representing the Hidalgo Soil and Water Conservation District, said the letter is written directly to Reclamation's area manager Leslie Meyers and to the secretary. She read the letter and cited the questions. The first was: "How much more will it cost for NEPA with the additional analysis of the San Francisco projects? How much more will it cost for NEPA with the additional analysis of the Virden projects? Will the exchange rates continue to increase at the same rate as the past 10 years? Do you have any estimate for exchange costs over the next 25 years? What is the current Lower Colorado River Basin Fund balance and expenditures? And could we please have these responses by May 1 of this year?"

She said the questions needed to be asked, because of recent push back by Reclamation saying the entity didn't need the analysis if they weren't going to do the projects. "How do they know we're not going to do them? Reclamation has been very helpful, and this is not intended to be derogatory, but we need answers to these questions."

Lorraine Hollingsworth of Attorney Pete Domenici Jr.'s office said she had not seen a copy.

Howard Hutchinson, representing the San Francisco Soil and Water Conservation District, agreed with sending the letter. "I think it's better to have answers before we move forward with any action. We need solid dollar amounts. We need the NEPA cost analysis. We've been doing this for almost 20 years, and lots of times consultants charge ridiculous amounts. I don't want us running into inflation of costs and delays."

Ty Bays, representing the Grant Soil and Water Conservation District, said he didn't think it was good that Reclamation was running NEPA, "but I guess we have no choice. I would like to know the consultant who will explain it to us."

Hollingsworth said Reclamation must report at the CAP Entity April meeting on the Lower Colorado Basin Fund.

Shannon also ¬¬requested a formal letter be sent to Sen. Howie Morales and Rep. Rodolpho "Rudy" Martinez asking them to attend the New Mexico CAP Entity meetings. "They always say they should, but they never come. This official letter is requesting them to come to the April meeting. I think it's important that they interact with us."

Vance Lee, representing Hidalgo County, said the letter should include other legislative representatives, such as Reps. Rebecca Dow, Gail Armstrong and Candie Sweetser and Sen. John Arthur Smith, "but not all at the same time."

Shannon said they should come before the Interim committee meetings begin, "so they can ask us questions."

Gabriel Ramos, representing Grant County, said he appreciates the outreach. "It will develop a better channel of communication."

Gutierrez said, during the last session, he tried to explain to Morales and Martinez about the project and the proposed amendment to the joint powers agreement. "Both have agreed to meet with me. I have an appointment with Howie this week, but I haven't received any information from Rudy. I want to update them."

The letter was approved to be sent to the two.

Gutierrez requested travel to Washington, D.C., in April. "We have secured a meeting with the Bureau of Reclamation commissioner on April 19, 2018. Scott Verhines of Occam Engineers will also be there. We want to present our information to the commissioner."

The board approved mileage and per diem plus expenses for Gutierrez for the trip.

In his executive director report, Gutierrez said he has had a second meeting with Reclamation and the NEPA contractor about the many things "we're doing with AECOM and Occam for the notice of intent. Hopefully the scoping will continue to move forward. We will have presentations in different locations." He said he and Dave Maxwell of Occam Engineers in Silver City, looked at structures on the Pecos River. "They were fairly simple structures that have withstood major floods. It will perhaps concern discussions with the Gila Basin Irrigation Commission and The Nature Conservancy."

Referring to the legislation that was brought forth to pull money out of the New Mexico Unit Fund, "we had a lot more support than anticipated by the opposition. The legislators did everything possible to get the bills to the floor, but it didn't work."

Ramos thanked Gutierrez for representing the entity and "all the others from this group who went to the legislative session. I can't understand why they don't want us to build infrastructure, when Albuquerque, Santa Fe and others have addressed problems with infrastructure to avoid not having enough water."

"I also want to recognize Howard," Gutierrez said. "He worked tirelessly on these bills. Without him, things would have been different. He kept us up-to-date on all the happenings."

"What will help is to have more of us to be there next time," Shannon said.

Next was a Roundtable discussion among the NM CAP Entity members.

Allen Campbell, representing the Gila Hotsprings Irrigation Association, thanked Hutchinson for the format so that he, Campbell, could send personal letters to individual representatives and senators.

"Another thing we can do is create resolutions in our individual entities that we can send out to legislators," Shannon said. "Resolutions or letters of support. All of us, as volunteers, dedicate ourselves to these meetings."

Lee suggested sending thank you notes to those legislators who supported the entity this year.

Shannon suggested each represented entity on the CAP Entity send something thanking those who supported its efforts.

Hutchinson suggested some names that should be recognized for their help.

Joe Runyan, representing the Gila Farm Irrigation Association, said he had an idea. "There are so many interest groups on the Gila concerned about the floodplain and wetlands that have been compromised. I wonder if we could put funds toward acquiring property and reclaiming wetlands. We could create gems of places that would serve our purpose as well as for those who support the environment."

Hutchinson said the San Francisco Soil and Water Conservation District is already engaging in a project on the Tularosa River with that purpose in mind. "We are going ahead with the project. We have now contacted the New Mexico Geology Department out of New Mexico Tech to do some riparian restoration and recharge work."

"How do we incorporate it into our action?" Runyan asked.

Hutchinson said all the soil and water conservation districts are doing restoration work across the state. "The Natural Resources Conservation Service has funding in EQIP, as do the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation, the National Wild Turkey Federation and Trout Unlimited."

"Can it be part of the NEPA process?" Runyan asked. "Can it be because it is advantageous to the project?"

Hutchinson said if the action will cause potential impacts, the entity will be required to do mitigation. "We don't need to ask for it to be included."

Runyan asked if the members should take time to recognize likely places.

"Everybody, including the public and the CAP Entity will be engaged in the scoping process," Hutchinson said. "When the Notice of Intent is published, we can also submit issues to be included. Another thing we can do is suggest some other alternatives. "

Bays answered Runyan's first suggestion about purchasing land. "On behalf of the Grant Soil and Water Conservation District, we are opposed to more government-owned land. We already have more public land ownership than private land ownership. I don't think it's wise to give more land to the state or the federal government. The Grant Soil and Water Conservation District has already done a lot of restoration, some of which has been stopped by federal agents. The Gila River Valley has one of the largest populations of the southwest willow flycatcher, as well as the last large loach minnow and spike dace populations."

Runyan said the same bird surveys done on Freeport-owned land were "done on my land. We have a considerable boom in avian populations. I agree on the public land. The Double E Ranch is a debacle."

Bays addressed another issue. "When I asked Mr. Gaume at the last meeting if he had worked for a local entity, he said he hadn't. Later that same day, Mr. Gaume sent an email saying he had forgotten that he had worked for the Gila Conservation Coalition for $17,400, of which he kept $5,000. He was also presenting the lack of integrity and truthfulness of this board. I don't want Mr. Gaume giving any presentations other than public comment."

Campbell said: "I appreciated that you asked the question and was disappointed when I got the email. When we speak here, we are required to tell the truth. I, too, would prefer not to hear from him again."

Shannon read the email, in which Gaume said his memory was too slow and that he wanted to recognize he had said he hadn't worked for anyone locally and he had.

"On another issue," Hutchinson said "Bucky Allred and I met with the Forest Service to talk about sites we are looking at on the San Francisco that are on Forest Service land. We wanted to know what process we would have to do. We talked about special use or transfer of land to the county. Our ranger said she hadn't had any communication about being a co-operating agency for NEPA. The BLM, talking about land in Virden, has also not been contacted about being a co-operating agency.

"I personally requested that letters be gotten out to all potential co-operating agencies," he continued. "The San Francisco Soil and Water Conservation District and Catron County haven't received requests to be co-operating agencies, either. I'm presuming no one else has. We also talked about Fish and Wildlife Service in informal conversation. The request to be a co-operating agency is supposed to go our well before the notice of intent."

He said they also brought up funding for the Forest Service to participate in NEPA. The Forest Service didn't think it could do the Forest Management Plan and NEPA at the same time. "They would have to hire a contractor for the Forest Service to complete its analysis. The Forest Service is not sure what it will have to devote to NEPA. It was an interesting exchange."

"We talked to the Gila National Forest Supervisor more than a year ago," Hutchinson went on. "We talked about an off-stream project. He said he would be open to off-stream storage on Forest Service land. I think Reclamation should contact the Forest Service."

Lee asked: 'If we feel like Reclamation is not getting ahead of the game on addressing issues, should we ask the ISC to be on top of things?"

Hutchinson said he brought up with the Forest Service that Reclamation and the Interstate Stream Commission are joint lead agencies. "It is their responsibility to do the invitations."

ISC Attorney Dominque Work, attending by phone, said she has been told the review of new proposed action adds extra months. "It will be two or three months between the notice of intent and publication in the Federal Register. We are told the letters of invitation will be sent out after the notice of intent is sent out. The process is on track as soon as the NOI leaves the Phoenix office."

Richard Bauch, representing the village of Santa Clara, asked if the entity could start talking to Freeport-McMoRan about using its diversion point as the main project for the CAP Entity. "If we could connect to Silver City, we would have water all the way to Hurley. Will there be any money left to divide among the four counties to do our own projects?"

Hutchinson said the entity has put forward a scope of work to investigate the Freeport infrastructure.

"We are doing an analysis on the Freeport infrastructure," Gutierrez said. "We did enter into discussion with Freeport to provide infrastructure. The company is willing to use it for adjudicated water, but not for Arizona Water Settlements Act water. The company is not interested in being part of the New Mexico Unit. Water usage for the mine is minimal, plus we talked about possible aquifer recharge. We have to analyze the existing infrastructure."

Gutierrez asked Hutchinson who he had talked to at the Forest Service. "I've talked to Mr. Heath at Reclamation. He said Reclamation is having informal conversations in the Gila National Forest. There may be a disconnect in the Forest Service."

Hutchinson said he spoke with the acting supervisor, Art Telles and the Glenwood ranger. "They may have called him immediately after our talk."

"I have another comment," Hutchinson said. "I'm troubled about Allyson Siwik's allegations of sexual harassment. She has left the meeting, but I would like to ask her to personally contact me. I think she is making serious accusation. I would like to know who made the statements at the legislative session, because I agree that it was not appropriate. I will address it personally.

"Each one of us is representated in Santa Fe," Hutchinson continued. "We are represented by the Acequia Association, the Municipal League and the New Mexico Association of Counties. Each of them has a special legislative day. When you're there, you should take the opportunity to meet with individual representatives and senators. The New Mexico Legislature is one of the most open in the country. Take every opportunity to interact."

Before going into executive session to evaluate the executive director, the next meeting was announced to take place on April 3, 2018 at 10 a.m. at the Grant County Administration Center.